Impoverished Yemen seeks Gulf jobs

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

SANAA (AFP) — Yemen has asked for an annual quota of jobs in the expatriate workforce of its oil-rich Gulf neighbours for its impoverished population, the official Saba news agency said on Saturday.

The technical and vocational training ministry made the request to the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council recalling Yemen's longstanding request for membership, Saba said.

"Yemen currently has surplus workers who could progressively replace the expatriate workforce of the GCC countries, if the political leadership decides to commit itself a little more than now to the path of integration," it said.

Expatriate workers, mainly from the Asian subcontinent, make up some 37 percent of the 35 million strong population of the six GCC states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,...